Bacon soars in second half, Florida State eliminates Virginia Tech 74-68

Second half foul trouble for Zach LeDay doomed #7 seed Virginia Tech, and the Hokies fell to #2 seed Florida State 74-68 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night.

But in the city of Broadway and bright lights, a little showmanship is sometimes in order. The defining moment came in the game’s closing seconds, when Xavier Rathan-Mayes fed Mann a pass on a fast break, and the New Yorker slammed a two-hand dunk right down Broadway. With his successful two days in Brooklyn, LeDay is likely to be selected for the ACC All-Tournament team.

“Probably just wait till Selection Sunday so we can figure out who we play next”, said Virginia senior guard London Perrantes, who is headed to his fourth consecutive NCAA tournament, after the Cavaliers’ loss to Notre Dame.

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To provide a clearer picture of the size differential, the average height of the active Florida State player is 6 feet 8 inches, while the active Virginia Tech player stands at an average of 6 feet 5 inches.

Bacon sandwiched a pair of jumpers around a Mann 3-pointer to seize a 57-52 lead, prompting Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams to burn a timeout.

The Hokies never trailed in the first half and led for 17 1/2 minutes before going into the break up 35-33.

This Florida State team takes things a step further, using a dozen players to achieve its aims.

For the Seminoles, Dwayne Bacon’s 17 points led the way, while Jonathan Isaac was the only member of either team to register a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.

“We’re thankful to still be playing”, said Williams. “And we can smell blood”. Duke totaled 17 hits on the day while the Blue Devil pitching staff limited the potent Virginia Tech (9-7, 0-1 ACC) offense to four.

Six players are averaging at least 9.3 points per game for Virginia Tech, they are: LeDay (16.1), Seth Allen (13.3), Ahmed Hill (11.9), Chris Clarke (11.4), Justin Robinson (10.2) and Justin Bibbs (9.3). If officials had whistled the considerable contact that blockaded an Allen drive, or if Allen had made a late 3-point attempt, the Hokies just might have made the Seminoles blink.

Bacon had started slowly, missing all five of his shots from the floor in the first half.

“We were just kind of lethargic, we weren’t quite sure of ourselves”, Hamilton said. I told them we’ve got to tighten it up defensively, and they did. Isaac is their “stretch four”, a power forward with 3-point range.

“I’ll probably start thinking about it [Friday]”, said Jerome. “We already know it’s going to happen”. They don’t have that. With several runs of explosive offensive, this was just enough for their defense to put the Hokies (22-10 overall, 10-8 ACC) away for good. They used 12 in the first half alone to seven in all for Virginia Tech. We really believed that we could. “Got good rebounds, got good putbacks, tip-ins, got some deflections and steals”. “I can’t speak on the last 10 years or 11 years because we haven’t been here”. The latter game, in which the Blue Devils rallied from 12 down in the second half to win 81-77, was riveting and set up the tournament’s first Duke-Carolina encounter since the 2011 final won by the Devils. FSU led on the boards 20-13. “They put up a lot of second-chance points”.